Antler Hopkins

Once upon a time in a land far away.... There was a kingdom of great power and magic. Many of the inhabitants of this kingdom worked directly for the crown and only lived to please royalty. Sir Jeff of Kin and Sir Bruce of Hop were among the employed. They knew there was more to life than pleasing the king with songs of his greatness, so one day they decided to take a hike on the highest mountain in the valley. They had heard of a magical man who could provide them with an enchanted deer skull that was foretold to give music a soul . They climbed for 6 days and 7 nights, eventually seeing a glowing light coming from the top of the mountain. They ran as fast and hard as they could. The only thing that kept them going was the promise of something more. When they finally got to the top there was a tremendous shadow cast against the rock wall behind a man- made fire. The king had heard of there lack of loyalty and had beaten them to the summit with his soldiers. He found the old magical man and had him executed on the spot. The king was wearing the skull as a helmet as he convulsed for a moment with his eyes in the back of his head. He came back to consciousness just long enough to bark an order at his guard. As the king gave the order to seize the two traders, Jeff and Bruce noticed the shadow that had been caste behind the fire was growing larger. It's eyes glowed crimson red and it let out a tremendous roar. The kings guard stumbled back and accidentally knocked the skull off of the king's head. The skull landed on top of the wizard's headless body. It took root in the neck of the wizard and arose in a slow contorting fashion. The shadow monster tore the king's army to pieces in a matter of moments, leaving the king speechless and bested. The king dropped to his knees and accepted his fate. The Skull's hollowed out eyes looked at the king deeply. He had no eyes, only dark endless pits of nothingness but from the nothingness came a catastrophic buzzing followed by thousands of flies that swarmed all over the camp. Jeff and Bruce thought for sure that the king was through but just then the flies turned on them. They flew by the dozens straight into their mouths, noses, and ears. as they dropped to the ground, the king began to laugh. He thought he could taste victory but little did he know what the flies would bring. The duo rose from the grave with pale white eyes that faded to normal as the antlers began to grow from their heads. Bruce instinctively pulled out his mandolin and Jeff cleared his throat. They were prepared to give the king one last song. The shadow creature held the king down and kindly lent them the king's ears. The king was never seen or heard from again. The townspeople heard the song echoing through the mountains and began a joyous celebration never to be troubled by the king and his self righteous tunes. The duo was never seen by the town again but stories of two mysterious travelers with antlers spreading freedom across the land will never die. Some say if you walk through the mountains on any given blood moon you can still hear the Ballad of Antler Hopkins. From Nashville TN, Antler Hopkins is the noise child of Bruce Beall, Jeff Manning, Justin Berry, Jari Griffith and Quan Hardin.